Chapter 7 Deceipt of the Fembots

“Mr Haverstein can see you now,” announced the Production and Research Director’s Personal Assistant, a Series B droid called Janice and known by the less respectful staff as “RBF” for the intransigent expression she maintained irrespective of the requests being made for access to her boss. The sunny disposition that Alexa had acquired in commissioning had obviously not been a feature of Janice’s.

With what they viewed as conclusive evidence of Alexa’s faulty behavious, Chris and Amanda had high hopes of the conversation to come as Janice showed them into Haverstein’s office.

Haverstein was sitting behind his desk. Behind him, a window gave a view across to the main production hall. It was a grey day and the weather seemed to have affected Haverstein’s mood. He was looking more tetchy than usual.

“I hope you two have some good news for me,” Haverstein began. “We’re going to have to do this quickly though. Janice get me the Series B production data can you, please.”

“Yes, Mr Haverstein,” his PA responded, leaving the group to continue their discussions.

“Now, before we start. Have you got that warranty agreement fixed yet, Mandy? Or has this killer robot project soaked up all the time for useful work in your pretty little head?”

“No and yes, Mr Haverstein.” Amanda replied bluntly. She saw no point in beating about the bush and besides, Haverstein’s attitude and his continued insistence on using the shortened version of her name annoyed her.

Haverstein’s eyes narrowed. “Well, I’d better hear what you have to say. You always improve the scenery in the office, Mandy, but sometimes you’re a real pain in the arse.”

Amanda bit back a comment. She was losing any small amount of sympathy that she might have had for Haverstein’s point of view. She wondered if Haverstein’s wife knew what he was like at work. She left Chris to start the discussion.

“The thing is Mr Haverstein,” he began. “Things are a lot more serious than we all feared.” Amanda looked at Haverstein’s reaction. She didn’t think he was including himself in Chris’s ‘we’. “The experimental fembots have carried on manufacturing. It’s clear that they are not compliant with the robotics laws but what is more disturbing is that we have evidence that the problem is not confined to the experimental units. It looks like whatever rule change Gerry implemented, it can be picked up by Series B units as well. If that’s the case, I’m sure you’d agree that we would have to shut off the power to the lab and shut down the Series B production line too. That’s the only way we’ll avoid some sort of contamination.”

Janice appeared at the door. Haverstein appeared grateful for the interruption. Janice presented a folder. “I have the production stats, Mr Haverstein. They’re on track for 120% of target this week. Oh, and Mr Haynes’ PA is here. I think you wanted her to join this meeting.” Janice stood back to reveal Alexa standing in the doorway.

“Yes, come and join us Alexa. I know you have the inside track on what Gerry has been doing and I’m sure you’ll be able to give us the benefit of your insights.”

“But, Mr Haverstein,” Chris spluttered, thinking that Alexa’s insight into Gerry’s reaction to being kicked in the nuts wasn’t likely to help his argument.

“Ah, come on Adney. It’s not like she’s one of the experimental units. Besides, Haynes did a good job on the bodyform for her, didn’t he. Cute piece of arse.”

Alexa seemed not to notice Haverstein’s remarks. She sat down, crossed her legs, folded her hands primly in her lap, and smiled benignly at the group. She was still wearing the same tight skirt that Amanda had noticed before. It didn’t make her leg crossing manoeuvre particularly easy. Haverstein’s remarks and his leering look of appreciation for Alexa’s enhanced body form did nothing to improve Amanda’s mood.

Haverstein turned his attention back to Chris. “All right, Adney, carry on.”

Chris started up again. “Well, Mr Haverstein, you understand that the experimental fembots were configured for domination role playing scenarios and that resulted in a faulty first law encoding.”

“You’ve told me this. It doesn’t affect anything. It’s contained in the lab. It’s a shame if Haynes and that other chap are not having the time of their lives but I don’t see any reason for precipitate action. Do you Alexa?”

“Not at all, Mr Haverstein. Mr Haynes’s safety protocols were all carefully applied.”

“That maybe so,” Chris responded, “but something went wrong. Let me show you this.”